


A Modern Blend

by MaybeItWasMemphis



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Alternate Universe, Blended family, F/M, Family, Fluff, Homophobia, Humor, Romance, trigger warning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:00:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27966458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaybeItWasMemphis/pseuds/MaybeItWasMemphis
Summary: Two single parents. New York City. Chaos, love, and family. That about sums it up. Trigger warnings for homophobia and emotionally abusive/absent parents.
Relationships: Odafin "Fin" Tutuola/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 4





	1. Atom’s Bomb

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I have nothing to do with Law and Order: SVU. I honestly haven’t even really watched since Stabler left. I’m in my 30s. That show has been on the air since I was a preteen. When you hit my age, that shit starts getting repetitive real quick.
> 
> Author’s Note: Whenever you’re reading an SVU story written by me, just always assume it is taking place between the years 1999 and 2010. That’s when I used to watch religiously. Fin’s the leading man in this one because I’ve had a closet crush on Ice-T since the 90s. I call it a closet crush because I wasn’t actually allowed to listen to his music when I was a kid because my mom thought it was too violent and vulgar. That’s hilarious to me because Fin ended up being her favorite SVU character.

_“Lord, grant me the serenity to accept stupid people the way they are, courage to maintain self-control, and wisdom to know that if I act on it, I will go to jail.”_

**~ Unknown**

It was going on eleven, and Fin was coming off a sixteen-hour shift when his cell phone started ringing. He grabbed it off of the coffee table and looked at the display. The only reason he answered was because it was his fifteen-year-old son, Kenneth, calling.

“Dad, can you come and get me?” Something was wrong. Fin could hear it in his son’s voice.

“Kenneth, where are you?” Fin was already on his feet and heading for his front door.

“I’m at the Christian Center on my block.”

“What’s wrong? Where’s your mother?” He grabbed his keys off the hook and exited his apartment.

Kenneth didn’t answer him. “Dad, can you please just get here?”

***

Fin broke more than a few traffic laws getting to the Christian Center. When he arrived, he was met at the door by a woman of about thirty who was wearing skinny jeans and a short buttoned-up blouse. She would have almost looked professional if it hadn’t been for the bubblegum pink hair, small silver ring in her nose, and the tattoos covering both arms.

“Mr. Tutuola?”

“Fin,” he quickly corrected her.

“Fin,” the pretty, eccentric-looking woman smiled. She held out a heavily ringed hang. “My name’s Atom Black. I’m the director here. Feel free to call me Attie. Most people do.”

Fin shook her hand. “Nice to meet you. Where’s Kenneth?”

“He’s in the game room with my daughter, Raven.” She gestured towards a worn-out wooden door to the left. “The two of them are friends and good at cheering each other up.”

“Why does my son need cheering up?” Fin was starting to get impatient.

A dirty-blond, curly-haired boy of about eight or nine and a teenage girl with curly but obviously dyed red hair appeared from the office. The boy was putting on his backpack, and the girl, wearing too much makeup and clothes that wouldn’t have been out of place at Woodstock, couldn’t be bothered to look up from her cell phone screen. “Mom, Uncle Bear is here to get us.”

“Give me one minute,” Atom apologized. She walked over to her kids and slapped her hands in front of the girl’s face to get her attention. “Real-world to Stormy, your presence is requested.”

Stormy put down her phone and rolled her eyes. “Yes, Mother?”

“Tell your Uncle Bear that Reven’s staying with me and that Knox needs to take his medicine before he goes to bed.” Atom eyed her daughter. “Repeat what I just said.”

“God, Mom! I’m not an idiot!” Stormy stomped her foot. “Reven’s staying with you, and Knox needs to take his medicine before he goes to bed. Happy?”

“Very,” Atom smirked. “Now go. You don’t want to keep your uncle waiting. You know what a drama queen he can be.”

“Queen being the operative word,” Stormy mumbled, and Knox laughed.

Atom eyed her daughter sternly. “Uncle Bear can say that, you may not. It sounds bigoted coming out of your mouth. Now go.”

After watching the kids get safely off, Atom returned her attention to Fin. “I’m so sorry. Would you come back to my office with me? Kenneth asked me to speak with you before he does.”

“How bad is this?” Kenneth was never scared to talk to him about anything. Yeah, his son kept things from his high string mother, never from him. Now more concerned than ever, he followed Atom into her tiny office and took a seat in one of the chairs in front of her rickety desk.

“The news isn’t bad,” Atom replied, taking a seat behind her desk. “It’s one of the consequences that the news had already had for Kenneth.”

“Miss Black, I’m really starting to lose my patience. What the hell’s wrong with my boy?”

“Your son is gay,” Atom dropped the bomb on him.

Fin was in disbelief. “Seriously? That’s what all this is about? Here I am thinking Kenneth’s hurt, or he’s run off and joined a street gang, and you just tell me he’s gay.” Fin had guessed his only child’s sexual orientation two years earlier. He had never brought it up because he’d been waiting for Kenneth to tell him. Kenneth being gay had never bothered Fin. It was the twenty-first century. His son could still get married, give him grandkids, and be happy. In the end, isn’t that every good parent wants? For their kid to be happy. Working in the unit that he did, Fin knew that there were much worse things his son could be besides gay.

“You aren’t upset by this?” Atom appeared to be watching him closely for a reaction.

“Not in the least,” Fin shook his head. “I’m pretty sure I knew that boy was gay before he did.”

Atom smiled warmly. “I’m thrilled to hear that Kenneth has at least one supportive parent.” Her smile turned into a frown. “His mom didn’t take it too well.”

“How bad was it?” Ever since his crazy ex-wife had gotten sober, she had also become an evangelical Christian. Fin knew she had to be livid by this turn of events.

“She threw Kenneth out of the house and told him not to come back until he has given up being a sinful ‘faggot’,” she used air quotes for that word. “Kyle and my daughter are on the same academic quiz bowl team at school, and they’re friends. He called Raven after the fight with his mom, and she brought him here to me.”

Fin made a mental note to call his lawyer in the morning. It was obviously time to modify the standing custody order. “He has a room at my place, always has. His mother’s just made sure he’s rarely used it. Obviously, he can live with me.”

“That’s great,” Atom looked relieved. “Why don’t you go and see him? It would cheer him up to know that you support him. I’ll make photocopies of Raven’s school schedule and handbook. She and Kenneth have almost the same schedule.”

“I appreciate it.” Fin nodded and got to his feet.


	2. I'm Your Dad

Fin entered the small game room and found Kenneth sitting at a fold-up card table with a girl with black hair and rimless eyeglasses. It was the girl, who Fin assumed was Raven, who noticed him first. She got Kenneth’s attention and gestured towards him.

“Ken,” Fin said as he walked up to the table, where it appeared the kids had been playing a game of chess.

“Hey, Pop,” Kenneth smiled hesitantly. The poor kid looked like hell. He didn’t even have to be his father to tell that he had been crying.

“Hi, Mr. Tutuola.” Raven smiled and got to her feet. The girl had to be two or three years younger than Kenneth, and Fin was confused about how they had the same school schedule. “Kenneth, I’ll be with my mom in the office if you need me.” She leaned down and gave Kenneth a hug before leaving.

“Sweet kid,” Fin said, taking the chair that Raven had just vacated. “How old is she? No way she’s fifteen.”

Kenneth seemed confused by the mundane conversation. He had obviously been prepared for some more parental fireworks. “She’s twelve, but she’s really advanced for her age, so she’s in all my AP classes.”

“Cool,” Fin nodded. “You alright, son?”

Kenneth shrugged. “I’ve never seen Mom so pissed off before. Did Miss Black tell you?”

Fin nodded. “Yeah, but I’d already guessed. As long as you’re safe and happy, I don’t care who you love. Your mom will come around. And if for some reason, she doesn’t, it’s her loss and her problem. A person can’t fight nature, and it’s unfair to ask them to.”

“Does that mean I can go home with you?” Kenneth was looking hopeful for the first time since Fin had arrived.

“Boy, don’t be thick. You know you always have a home with me. I’m your dad.” Fin got back to his feet and patted the kid’s shoulder. “Why don’t you get your stuff together while I go and talk to Miss Black?”

“What about my stuff at Mom’s place?” Kenneth was on his feet and packing up the travel chess set. It belonged to the teenager. Fin had gifted him with it when he was ten.

“You let me worry about that. You have clothes at my place for the moment.” Oh, he planned on going over to his ex-wife’s home with a court order and at least two beat cops. He’d make sure it was legal, and he had witnesses, so she didn’t attempt to him with any (more) false charges. Having uniformed police officers on her doorstep was also sure to embarrass the image-conscious born again Christian that his ex had turned into. Fin would deny it if anyone ever asked but embarrassing his bitch of an ex-wife was an entry that was permanently on his bucket list. No matter how many times he did it, he never crossed it off. “What all do you have here?”

“This,” Kenneth nodded at the chess set. “My cello’s in the computer lab, and so is my backpack.”

“Get it together and meet me by the front door,” Fin ordered.


	3. War and Peace

“Miss Black.” Fin knocked on the doorframe of Atom’s office.

Atom looked up from what she was writing. “It’s Attie,” she corrected with a smile as she stood up from the cheap IKEA desk she was seated at.

“My bad, Attie.” Fin entered the cramped office. Raven was seated in a chair in the corner with her nose in a book that Fin was pretty sure was written in Russian. “I just wanted to let you know that Kenneth and I are taking off. He’s gathering up his stuff now.”

Raven closed her book and got to her feet. “I’ll go and help him. That cello’s really awkward.”

“Raven’s really worried about Kenneth,” Atom explained. “He’s one of the only kids that doesn’t treat her like a know-it-all freak at school.”

Fin nodded. “Good to know he’s lookin’ out for her. How advanced is she? That don’t even look like it’s in English,” he nodded at the book that Raven had left on her mom’s desk.

“It’s not,” Atom shook her head. “It’s ‘War and Peace’ in its original Russian. She’s twelve, but she’s in the ninth grade with Kenneth. They want to bump her up even further, but I think her workload is heavy enough as it is. She’s just a kid, even if she has been smarter than me since she was in the first grade.” She gathered up the papers on her desk. “I have the kids’ class and school events schedule here, and I wrote down their quiz bowl practice times and Kenneth’s volunteer days as well.” When Fin gave her a confused look, she explained further. “The school requires all students to complete at least a hundred volunteer hours every school year and thirty hours during summer break. It teaches them the value of community service and looks really good on college applications.”

“I like that,” Fin approved as he reached out and took the papers. If he was paying out the ass for private school, at least his son was getting a good education and being taught how to be a decent human being in the process.

“Kenneth volunteers here in the afternoons on Mondays and Fridays with Raven and Stormy. They’re homework helpers and reading buddies. Once a month, Kenneth also helps out at our LGBTQ support group for teens. On those days, I can drive him home after work if you give me your address.”

Fin was kind of impressed with how well Atom knew Kenneth’s schedule, given that she had three kids of her own. It also clued him into the fact that the Black family played a significant role in his boy’s life, so he’d best make an effort to get to know them. “Why don’t you and the kids come by my place this Saturday for dinner? That way, you know where we live, and we have some extra time to catch me up on Kenneth’s life. I’m afraid my ex-wife kept me mostly in the dark.”

“I have an ex-husband like that.” Atom rolled her eyes. “Thought mostly he just keeps me in the dark about his whereabouts. Dinner sounds great,” she agreed. “My number’s in the parents' directory. Just text me a time and your address. You need me to bring anything?”

“Nah,” Fin chuckled. “It seems like you do more than enough as it is. This is me thanking you.”

Atom smiled. “You really don’t need to. Kenneth’s a good kid and like a member of the family.”

“Mom,” Raven poked her head in the office. “Your phone’s off, and Uncle Ryder needs to talk to you. Stormy snuck off with Jaymes, and he and Uncle Silas need to know what to do.”

“Urgh,” Atom huffed. “I should just lock that girl up until college.”

“College, right,” Raven snorted. “She’ll be on a pole by twenty, mark my words.”

“Raven!”

“I’m just gonna leave you to it,” Fin quickly excused himself.


	4. Dexter Black

The buzzer went off just as Fin was pulling a large London broil steak from the oven. “Kenneth, can you get the door, please?”

“Sure, Pop!” Another few minutes later. “Dad, the Blacks are here!”

“I’d already guessed that much,” Fin mumbled to himself. “Tell Miss Black that I’m in the kitchen.”

“You know,” Atom appeared in the doorway. “Kenneth calls me Attie too.”

Fin was momentary without the ability to speak. Atom was dressed very differently than when they had first met. Instead of jeans and a blouse, she wore black leggings and an oversized black sweater with a rhinestone skull in the center that fell off both shoulders. Her hair was no longer pink, Atom having dyed it purple. It was piled on top of her head in a sexy, messy bun. Typically, Fin wasn’t into the rocker’-girl type, but Atom definitely had his attention. If she wasn’t so close to his kid, he’d probably even ask her out. “Force of habit,” he finally found his voice and shrugged. “I’ve always Kenneth it was respectful to call his elders miss or mister.”

“Technically it is,” Atom walked over and joined him at the counter. “But ever since I turned thirty last year, miss and ma’am just make me feel like an old lady.”

“I feel ya,” Fin nodded. “What are the kids up to?”

“Raven and Kyle have a quiz bowl tournament next Saturday, so they’re playing trivial pursuit in the living room. Knox is supposed to be reading a book on his phone’s kindle app, but I highly suspect he’s playing _Plants vs Zombies_ instead. Stormy will not be joining us this evening for dinner. She’s babysitting her cousins so her uncles can have a much-needed date night.”

Fin laughed as he took his carving knife out of the drawer next to the sink. “Sounds like you’ve got your hands full with that girl.”

Atom leaned against the counter. “Oh, yeah. She’s so much like me at her age it’s scary. Seeing as I was married and pregnant at seventeen and divorced by twenty-two, I’m trying my hardest to keep her on the right track. You need any help?”

“You can slice up the bread for me while I cut the steak.” Fin nodded towards the fresh loaf of Italian bread on the counter. “Knives are in the drawer next to the sink.”

Atom grabbed a knife and got to work. “Are you going to be able to take Kenneth to the quiz bowl tournament, or do you need me to take him? It’s up in Albany, so it’s pretty much an all-weekend event.”

“Damn,” Fin cursed. He hadn’t looked at the schedule. He had thought the tournament was local, and he was working on Friday. If the tournament was in Albany, he’d have to leave on Friday night at the latest to make it on time. “I’m on duty Friday, and I don’t get off until ten, and that’s only if I don’t have a case.”

“Well, I always book two rooms. One for me and the girls and one for the boys. If you don’t mind sharing the room with Kenneth and my hyperactive nine-year-old, you’re welcome to join us when you get off. We don’t normally check out until Sunday morning.”

Fin suddenly felt terrible. How long had his ex-wife been making Atom eat the costs of these out of town trips? “Attie, why don’t you let me pay for the hotel? It seems only fair.”

“Oh,” Atom laughed. “There’s really no need. My dad owns the hotel. I don’t pay for anything. The rooms are more like suites with two bedrooms.”

Atom’s last name was Black, and her father owned a hotel in Albany. Fin would bet his life that the hotel in question was the Black Bird Lodge and Hotel. He’d stayed there once while undercover. He’d been playing the part of a New York drug kingpin. The place was nicer than most of the five-star hotels in Manhattan. Atom was the daughter of Dexter Black, the self-made east coast high-end hotel magnet.


	5. Allergic Reaction

Fin had an enjoyable evening with Atom and the kids. After dinner, they all gathered in the living room for cake and coffee (milk for the kids, of course).

“Dinner was delicious, Mr. Tutuola,” Raven complimented. She was lying on her stomach on the floor while Kenneth and Knox set up some kind of _Doctor Who_ card game. Fin had never made it through a full episode of the weird British sci-fi show, so there was no chance that he’d ever understand the rules of the game.

“You can call me Fin, Raven,” he chuckled. “And thank you, sweetie. I’m glad you liked it.” He glanced over at Atom, who was sitting on the other side of the couch. She was frowning down at her cell phone. “Attie, you okay?”

“Stormy was supposed to call and check in with me half an hour ago, but all I got was a text telling me that everything’s okay.” Atom sounded beyond suspicious.

“You think something’s wrong?” The cop inside of him clicked on. “I can call and have a car go by and go a welfare check.”

“Oh, no,” Atom shook her head. “She didn’t text the emergency word.” Fin was really starting to understand that this woman had a way better grasp on parenthood than he ever would. Even as a cop, he’d never thought of using a distress word with Kenneth. “I think she’s misbehaving, not in danger.”

“She probably has the dufus boyfriend over there,” Raven chuckled, not looking up from her cards.

“That’s exactly what I’m worried about.” Atom pointed at Raven.

“This boyfriend a bad dude?” Fin would happily go and have a talk with the punk if that was the case.

“Not bad, just two years older…and kind of stupid.” Atom looked like she felt terrible calling the kid that. “My daughter says jump, and he asks her how high.”

“Kind of dumb?” Knox snorted, looking up from the game. “He keeps calling his older brother’s baby his second cousin. He brought a stuffed animal to the hospital wearing a t-shirt that said ‘Happy First Birthday, Cousin.’”

Okay. Whoa. That was really freaking dumb.

“What about the time he locked himself inside his parents' garage, and Grandpa had to go and rescue him because his folks weren’t home?” Raven was quite clearly taking glee in this conversation. Typical little sister.

“Sometimes those older manual doors can jam,” Fin defended.

“It was electric!” Raven laughed. “The button to open it was on the wall next to the door, and the door leading into the house from the garage was unlocked.”

“He was also completely sober,” Kenneth added in. “I rode out with Mr. Black to let him out. Mr. Black just pointed at the button, and we left.”

Yeah. This boy’s parents should really consider getting him tested.

At that moment, Atom’s phone started ringing in her hand. She glanced at the display. “Speaking of the juvenile delinquent.” She slid her finger across the screen and answered the phone. “You’re late, young lady. Jaymes better not be over there.”

Fin was two feet away, but he could hear Stormy’s high-pitched, panicked voice as clear as day. “Mom! Gavin ate a Snickers bar when I wasn’t looking, and he’s having an allergic reaction!”

**Author's Note:**

> While Atom works somewhere called the Christian Center, this is not a religious story at all. I based Atom’s workplace on a shockingly secular place, also called the Christian Center, that I used to volunteer at in Massachusetts when I lived there. It was run by a church, but it wasn’t operated religiously if that makes any sense. You didn’t have to be a Christian to get help, and they didn’t try and convert and/or ‘save’ people. I’m not of the same denomination as their church, and they never said a negative word to me about it. They felt helping their community was their Christian duty, but they were also woke enough to know that not everyone are Christians. They gave the homeless three meals a day, clothes, internet access to find work, and help getting medical care. They also ran free afterschool programs for low-income kids and a shelter for LGBTQ youth who had been thrown out of their homes because of their sexual orientation. Shocking for Christians, right? I volunteered with the afterschool programs and shelter. I love and miss that place. It is incredibly rare to find Christians who actually practice what they preach and aren’t bigoted. That place has a special place in my heart, and I donate to it to this day. It is 100% run by volunteers.


End file.
